was condemned to death, and was hung on the gibbet of Montfaucon. Not
daring to risk a convocation of the States-General of the kingdom, Louis
X. ordered the seneschals to convoke the provincial assemblies, and thus
obtained a few subsidies, which he promised to refund out of the revenues
of his domains. The clergy even allowed themselves to be taxed, and closed
their eyes to the misappropriation of the funds, which were supposed to be
held in reserve for a new crusade. Taxes giving commercial franchise and
of exchange were levied, which were paid by the Jews, Lombards, Tuscans,
and other Italians; judiciary offices were sold by auction; the trading
class purchased letters of nobility, as they had already done under
Philippe le Bel; and, more than this, the enfranchisement of serfs, which
had commenced in 1298, was continued on the payment of a tax, which varied
according to the means of each individual. In consequence of this system,
personal servitude was almost entirely abolished under Philippe de Long,
brother of Louis X.

Each province, under the reign of this rapacious and necessitous monarch,
demanded some concession from the crown, and almost always obtained it at
a money value. Normandy and Burgundy, which were dreaded more than any
other province on account of their turbulence, received remarkable
concessions. The base coin was withdrawn from circulation, and Louis X.
attempted to forbid the right of coinage to those who broke the wise laws
of St. Louis. The idea of bills of exchange arose at this period.

Thanks to the peace concluded with Flanders, on which occasion that
country paid into the hands of the sovereign thirty thousand florins in
gold for arrears of taxes, and, above all, owing to the rules of economy
and order, from which Philip V., surnamed the Long, never deviated, the
attitude of France became completely altered. We find the King initiating
reform by reducing the expenses of his household. He convened round his
person a great council, which met monthly to examine and discuss matters
of public interest; he allowed only one national treasury for the
reception of the State revenues; he required the treasurers to make a
half-yearly statement of their accounts, and a daily journal of receipts
and disbursements; he forbad clerks of the treasury to make entries either
of receipts or expenditure, however trifling, without the authority and
supervision of accountants, whom he also compelled to assist